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Secret Words and Secret Societies - Part 1

© Sandra Linville

"From the hallowed streets of Greenspent, To the shores of Sheepshead Bay, From the Verrazano Narrow, To Canarsie across the way... We have come together, one and all, In fellowship to commune, And to glorify the Grand Exalted Brotherhood of Raccoons"

When Ralph Kramden of The Honeymooners joined with his brothers of the Loyal Order of Raccoons, they sang that song with masculine gusto. Fred and Barney of The Flintstones belonged to a fraternal order with different names throughout the life of the cartoon series - The Loyal Order of Dinosaurs, The Loyal Order of Water Buffalo, and finally the Royal Order of Water Buffaloes. Guys getting together for some laughs and sometimes to do some good. Not too worrisome. Not a soul complaining about Kramden and his ilk conspiring to mold the world order to their liking. Wilma and Betty complained a little about Fred and Barney's hijinks sometimes, but no underlying dark vibes of covert or cryptic cabals. The menacing cabal seems reserved for The X-Files, where no one is to be trusted and 'The Cigarette-Smoking Man' skulks around. On that show there is a verifiable secret society - an Illuminati of the first order, complete with wealthy white guys and alien co-conspirators. We think. Skulking, secret societies, secret handshakes and secret words go back a long way - and many secret societies are still with us. They just aren't so secret anymore.

The whole subject of secret societies and their secret words and symbols is amorphous with no real clear-cut parameters. These societies can embrace pseudopolitical organizations, hate groups, criminal associations, college fraternities, benevolent organizations, religious groups and even conspiratists' nightmare gangs. The secret words and symbols are used to keep the outsiders out. Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia defines secret societies as including "both organizations with secret membership and those in which secrecy is involved only in initiation rites, other rituals, or special knowledge. Ancient religious mystery cults such as the Greek Orphism and the Persian Mithraism are largely of the latter kind, as are some medieval guilds, such as the cathedral masons from which the Freemasons claim descent. Some societies have at their core a specialist knowledge of ritual that is of general use to the community."

Enough is known about the guys who dress up in white sheets. They need no added attention for their heinous crimes and rituals. The militia groups online are primarily conspiracy devotees. The Mafia tries to keep secrets, but it's hard with books like 'The Mafia Handbook' being published and all those other novels and movies. They need more stand-up guys to burn the babbos in the brugad with their babania who rat about the nut, the skim and the swag. See definitions of "secret" Mafia words at Ron Lombard's Suite101.com topic at "http://www.suite101.com/linkcategory.cfm..."